Archive of Our Own ^beta

Sam is sobbing in the corner, and the sound is making Dean want to cry too.

“Cas, can’t we just let him off?” Dean murmurs to the angel sitting beside him at the table.

“No, Dean,” Cas answers. Dean doesn’t know how he looks so poised—his hands folded on the table and his back straight—at a time like this. “He needs to learn.”

“He’s not a bad boy,” Dean tries.

Sam sobs on. Dean tries not to look at him.

“Of course he’s not. But he did a bad thing. What kind of parents would we be if we let him get away with it?”

Dean has a hard time with this. He grew up as the big brother, the foil to John’s strictness—the same strictness that’s part of the reason Sam needs to regress in the first place. He doesn’t know how to do punishment.

But, he trusts Cas’ judgement. And standing in the corner isn’t as bad as getting hit, so Dean takes deep breaths and lets Cas keep track of the time.

Finally, Sammy’s corner time is over. “You can go to him, now, Dean,” Cas quietly tells him.

Dean immediately pushes his chair back and heads to Sam. “Hey, baby,” he murmurs.

Sam, still sobbing, turns to Dean and hugs him, burying his face in Dean’s shoulder.

“I know, I know, kiddo. It’s okay. It’s over now.” Dean rubs Sam’s back and holds him.

Sam is taking heaving breaths and sniffling. “I so-orry, Daddy,” he gets out, voice muffled.

Huh. Maybe corner time actually works. Sam has now realized that what he did was wrong.

“It’s okay, baby,” Dean soothes. “You’re still my good boy, okay? It’s forgiven now.”

Sam sniffles and nods. He continues clinging to Dean as his sobs slowly and unevenly subside.

Cas eventually comes over, and Dean reluctantly lets go of Sam to let him latch onto Cas instead.

“I sorry, Dada,” he says into Cas’ shoulder, which he needs to bend down significantly more to hide his face in but manages anyway.

“I know you are, Sammy,” Cas says, voice calm and arms firm around Sam’s back. “And I know you’re not gonna do it again, right?”

Sam pulls away from Cas’ grip to look him in the eye. He solemnly shakes his head and promises, “No, Dada. Never.”

Cas smiles at him. “Good boy.” He raises up to kiss his cheek before sinking back down. “I love you,” he tells him.

“I love you,” Sam echoes, voice soft and innocent.

Dean steps closer and kisses Sam’s temple. Sam then turns and hugs Dean again, and Dean quickly returns the affection. He looks at Cas over Sam’s shoulder, and the two exchange a soft, knowing smile.

Dean can’t help feeling like a good parent.